I am 37. I have rheumatoid arthritis. Having RA doesn't mean I can't also be an athlete. I have a daughter, Andra Kate, born 12/12/08, and am due with daughter #2 due 12/12/12.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Baby Nora

Nora Jeannette was born at 1:52am Sunday morning. Contractions started at 9pm and by 10 I figured this was it. We dropped Andra off at her cousin Zach's to go back to sleep and got to the hospital about 10:30. I was a little worried that I was 1.5 hours in and it was bearable. Andra's labor was only about 2 hours of pain plus her water broke before anything else and this baby's water was still intact. By about midnight I asked to be checked again and when they said I was only at 4-5cm I asked for an epidural. Hey, I did one naturally, I had nothing to prove. I was at an 8.5 by the time the epi was in, and got about half an hour of relative rest before pushing. The epi only really worked on te left side... It was weird. Eventually it kicked in more on the right but not fully. I admit to being skeptical of people who said their epidural a didn't work, but now know better. When they work they work!! I was checked again about 1:45 and her head was right there. Four pushed and she was our, piece of cake. Recovery has been way easier too. I am ready to go home, but Nora has a bit of jaundice and needs one more night, so since officially I get one more too I am staying. I thought I would get to walk down to the cafeteria or gift shop but I can't. They said I could be discharged and still stay on as a courtesy but I figure I might as well stay. The down side is they will keep bugging me in the middle of the might to check vitals where as they wouldn't do anything if I wasn't officially here.

Otherwise... 7lbs 3 oz and 19 inches at 37 weeks 4 days. Almost identical to Andra though she was 38 weeks 5 days. Nora latches better and has had her eyes open much more, I think Andra slept for 3 weeks straight.